NDLI: Thunderstorm outflows preceding epidemics of asthma during springand summer

Content Provider	PubMed Central
Author	Marks, G. Colquhoun, J. Girgis, S. Koski, M. Treloar, A. Hansen, P. Downs, S. Car, N.
Abstract	BACKGROUND—A study wasundertaken to assess the importance of thunderstorms as a cause ofepidemics of asthma exacerbations and to investigate the underlying mechanism. METHODS—A case controlstudy was performed in six towns in south eastern Australia. Epidemiccase days (n = 48) and a random sample of control days (n = 191) wereidentified by reference to the difference between the observed andexpected number of emergency department attendances for asthma. Theoccurrence of thunderstorms, their associated outflows and cold frontswere ascertained, blind to case status, for each of these days. Inaddition, the relation of hourly pollen counts to automatic weatherstation data was examined in detail for the period around one severeepidemic of asthma exacerbations. The main outcome measure was thenumber of epidemics of asthma exacerbations. RESULTS—Thunderstormoutflows were detected on 33% of epidemic days and only 3% of controldays (odds ratio 15.0, 95% confidence interval 6.0 to 37.6). Theassociation was strongest in late spring and summer. Detailedexamination of one severe epidemic showed that its onset coincided withthe arrival of the thunderstorm outflow and a 4-12 fold increase inthe ambient concentration of grass pollen grains. CONCLUSIONS—Thesefindings are consistent with the hypothesis that some epidemics ofexacerbations of asthma are caused by high concentrations of allergenicparticles produced by an outflow of colder air, associated with thedowndraught from a thunderstorm, sweeping up pollen grains andparticles and then concentrating them in a shallow band of air atground level. This is a common cause of exacerbations of asthma duringthe pollen season.
Related Links	http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/thorax.56.6.468
Ending Page	471
Page Count	4
Starting Page	468
File Format	PDF
ISSN	00406376
e-ISSN	14683296
Journal	Thorax
Issue Number	6
Volume Number	56
Language	English
Publisher	BMJ Group
Publisher Date	2001-06-01
Access Restriction	Open
Rights Holder	BMJ Group
Subject Keyword	Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine Research in Higher Education
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine

Sl.	Authority	Responsibilities	Communication Details
1	Ministry of Education (GoI), Department of Higher Education	Sanctioning Authority	https://www.education.gov.in/ict-initiatives
2	Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	Host Institute of the Project: The host institute of the project is responsible for providing infrastructure support and hosting the project	https://www.iitkgp.ac.in
3	National Digital Library of India Office, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur	The administrative and infrastructural headquarters of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in
4	Project PI / Joint PI	Principal Investigator and Joint Principal Investigators of the project	Dr. B. Sutradhar bsutra@ndl.gov.in Prof. Saswat Chakrabarti will be added soon
5	Website/Portal (Helpdesk)	Queries regarding NDLI and its services	support@ndl.gov.in
6	Contents and Copyright Issues	Queries related to content curation and copyright issues	content@ndl.gov.in
7	National Digital Library of India Club (NDLI Club)	Queries related to NDLI Club formation, support, user awareness program, seminar/symposium, collaboration, social media, promotion, and outreach	clubsupport@ndl.gov.in
8	Digital Preservation Centre (DPC)	Assistance with digitizing and archiving copyright-free printed books	dpc@ndl.gov.in
9	IDR Setup or Support	Queries related to establishment and support of Institutional Digital Repository (IDR) and IDR workshops	idr@ndl.gov.in

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